UK to slash Feed in Tariff for Solar PV

quentingargan

If you had solar PV or other microgeneration in Ireland, you got paid 9c for any surplus power you exported. This got scrapped last Christmas by Electric Ireland, though a replacement scheme is under consideration. To my mind, replacing this with a similar scheme at a slightly higher price would be reasonable and affordable.

The UK by comparison had an absurdly generous scheme that paid you for producing the electricity, even if you used it all yourself. This spawned an industry is producing controllers that heated your hot water with any surplus power to ensure that almost none of this electricity got used on the grid. Considering that it takes 2.5kw of heat to make 1kw of electricity, burning off this "surplus" electricity as heat seems very wasteful.

However the UK Dept. of Energy and Climate Change has just announced proposals to reduce their feed in tariff for solar by as much as 87%, down to just 1.6p. See here.

It seems absurd to introduce incentives for an industry (however flawed), build an industry in solar installation, and then destroy that installation industry by decimating the tariffs.

Renewable energy does need modest subsidy, especially with oil at temporary lows of $40 a barrel. But these subsidies need to be modest enough to be affordable for electricity consumers, and long-term so that we don't have a boom-and-bust industry in solar as looks like happening int the UK.

rolion

Hi,

Any information on how that will work here ?
I'm designing my own system and curious if I can do it,if worth it and what percentage of my 5kw panels to allocate to feeding.

Regards

freddyuk

This has been looming since the expenses abusing Greg Barker savaged the industry four years ago. The government has decided to back offshore wind and Fracking as their way to achieve the targets. The solar industry has been kicked in teeth all the way through this badly administered FIT scheme. The regulatory bodies have made the cost of installation much higher then it could be and failed to keep the standards up thus many customers have inferior installations. There will be a mad rush to get in before the deadlines and the cost of kit from suppliers has already started to rise in anticipation. Here we go again.
It will lead to another drop in the number of people employed in the industry. It has been on the cards for a long time. However without the financial incentive it may become an industry that ignores the regulatory bodies as without a FIT there is no MCS. The cost of the kit can drop as the MCS certified kit list is not relevant.
I do not believe the Irish will bring in a worthwhile system unless they relax the PD planning laws which restrict any installation to under 2kw of installed capacity.

quentingargan

rolion wrote: »

Hi,

Any information on how that will work here ?
I'm designing my own system and curious if I can do it,if worth it and what percentage of my 5kw panels to allocate to feeding.

Regards

At present, there is no feed in tariff in Ireland, so you will only be saving on the element of power you self-consume. This is hard to manage, and depends on how much you use electricity during the day. A local supermarket could put in a system that consumes all the power, but usually, householders struggle to self-consume more than half, and the larger the PV array, the lower that figure goes.

Unless you have reasons to want uninterruptable power and want to put in a battery system.

joeirish

I have posted another thread about the new government consultation process that ends next week on Sept 11th. The DCENR say they are possibly interested in schemes that could be considered as microgeneration but this needs folk to respond to before the deadline. Have a look at my other post if you are interested in helping.
Thanks

galwaytt

joeirish wrote: »

I have posted another thread about the new government consultation process that ends next week on Sept 11th. The DCENR say they are possibly interested in schemes that could be considered as microgeneration but this needs folk to respond to before the deadline. Have a look at my other post if you are interested in helping.
Thanks

done, submission sent today

quentingargan

joeirish wrote: »

I have posted another thread about the new government consultation process that ends next week on Sept 11th. The DCENR say they are possibly interested in schemes that could be considered as microgeneration but this needs folk to respond to before the deadline. Have a look at my other post if you are interested in helping.
Thanks

There is also a petition from Friends of the Earth on the subject HERE

Alex1414

I just found this thread today, pity, since I would have liked to put in a submission and sign the petition. I have a 2,5 kWh solar pv set-up and working great for 2 years.
But with my old meter still in place, the ESB is pushing me to get a smart-meter and the excess power I produce for free.

It's a disgrace that this part of sustainable energy is ignored in this country.
So if anybody knows more links I can support, please let me know. Thanks

quentingargan

Alex1414 wrote: »

I just found this thread today, pity, since I would have liked to put in a submission and sign the petition. I have a 2,5 kWh solar pv set-up and working great for 2 years.
But with my old meter still in place, the ESB is pushing me to get a smart-meter and the excess power I produce for free.

It's a disgrace that this part of sustainable energy is ignored in this country.
So if anybody knows more links I can support, please let me know. Thanks

You can still make a submission - the date has been extended to Sept 18th (next Friday). The submission site is here.

If you want to just sign a petition, there is one here from Friends of the Earth.

Alex1414

Thank you, I will start reading it straight away.